Central to consociational (or power-sharing) theory is the claim that multicultural societies require electoral systems based on proportional representation (PR) in order to ensure a fair representation of the various cultural groups in parliament. In this context, Switzerland is often cited as a “PR country”, as well as the key example of successful consociationalism. This article argues that, in this respect, the Swiss experience does not support consociational theory as far as the representation of linguistic groups is concerned. The counterevidence is found by exploring the variety of Swiss electoral systems, both at the national level and in the four multilingual cantons. The article suggests that territoriality (i.e. definition of electoral districts) is the key variable for ensuring linguistic proportionality in parliament. When this is not possible, as is the case in some elections in the multilingual cantons, majoritarian systems sometimes do a better job than PR.

A hernia de disco e uma patologia de incidencia muito comum, atingindo individuos na faixa etaria produtiva. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os resultados da acupuntura associada a reeducacao postural (metodo Iso-stretching) no tratamento da hernia de disco. Foram tratados 5 pacientes, sendo que todos realizaram posicoes de Iso-stretching (15 no total) em seguida a acupuntura num total de 15 sessoes. Na avaliacao inicial e final foram colhidos dados sobre o nivel de dor, amplitude de movimento, medida dedo-chao, atividades de vida diaria e padrao energetico. O nivel de dor tambem foi medido durante as sessoes. Os resultados demonstraram uma melhora visivel em todos os parâmetros colhidos, concluindo que o tratamento associado de Iso-stretching e acupuntura potencializa os resultados da melhora da sintomatologia do paciente com hernia de disco lombar, dentro da sessao e ao longo do tratamento. Intervertebral disk displacement is one of the pathologies with higher incidence level in productive ages. This work had the objective to analyze the association between acupuncture and postural reeducation (Iso-Stretching method) during intervertebral disk displacement treatment. We have used Iso-stretching postures (15 in total number) followed by acupuncture in all of the 5 patients during the whole treatment (15 sessions). During the initial and final evaluation, pain measurement, movement reach, “finger-floor” test, daily activities ability and energetic pattern were evaluated. The pain was still evaluated inside the sessions. The results have shown a visible improvement for all of the measurements. We can conclude that the association of iso-stretching and acupuncture increase the therapeutic results with a better attenuation of the patient's symptoms.